US TV Drama Homeland Chooses Tel Aviv for Beirut Scenes

So where do you go when you want to shoot scenes of Beirut without stepping foot in the Lebanese capital? The drama/thriller TV series Homeland chose Tel Aviv:

Though booted from the CIA as psychologically unfit, the heroine of the hit TV thriller “Homeland” will return for the second season pursuing leads in the Middle East, the show’s producer said on Friday.

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Carrie Mathison, Homeland’s intuitive and overwrought CIA officer played by Claire Danes, will be in Beirut at the outset of the second season, Howard said, twitching the veil on a script kept largely secret.

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Tel Aviv-area locations were standing in for the Lebanese settings due to challenges of insuring the cast and crew and the fact that “Israel looks a lot more like (Beirut) than southern California”.